In 1969, China Second Automobile Manufacturing Plant was officially established, which was the predecessor of Dongfeng Motor. In 1978, it was transformed into an enterprise focusing on military products and combining military and civilian products, and in 1981, it was formally established as Dongfeng Automobile Associated Company, and after 10 years of development, it became one of the world’s three largest truck producers in 1991. Dong feng Motors occupies an important position in the development of China’s automobile industry, and it has always been shouldering the mission of “building good cars for China”, making continuous efforts to innovate, and forming a product matrix covering passenger cars, commercial vehicles, fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles and other comprehensive development. It is also Dongfeng Motor that has witnessed the development process of China’s automobile industry and the historical progress of China’s automobile from weak to strong.
Dongfeng Motor has a number of modernized intelligent production and assembly bases in China, covering Wuhan, Xiangyang, Shiyan and many other cities, and they are all core manufacturing bases of Dongfeng Motor. The intelligent manufacturing base in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in which Dongfeng Motor has invested more than 5 billion yuan, represents the top level of automobile manufacturing in China. The plant integrates the four major processes of stamping, welding, painting and general assembly. The stamping workshop adopts a 5400-ton servo press, with an operating precision of ±0.3mm; the welding workshop is equipped with 685 robots, with the overall automated welding rate reaching 99.8%; and Dongfeng Motor’s painting process uses the environmentally friendly 3C1B process, which reduces VOC emissions in the plant by 60%. The fully automated production line and intelligent AI quality inspection system are adopted in the smart factory, which utilizes the technology of digital twin and the IoT management platform to digitally identify and supervise the whole process of vehicle production, ensure the consistency of the quality of vehicles leaving the factory, and improve the precision and efficiency of the operation process. In addition, Dongfeng Motor’s plants are equipped with the capability of flexible co-line production of multiple models. In addition to China, Dongfeng Motor has also made layouts overseas, with a plant in Pakistan that is capable of realizing an annual production capacity of 30,000 vehicles; a joint venture established by Dongfeng Motor in cooperation with Iran, which has resulted in a localization rate of more than 60% of the vehicles there; and the SKD plant in Russia, which is mainly responsible for the production of its SUV models.
In terms of vehicle R&D and innovation, Dongfeng Motor has established a R&D system of “four institutes and two centers”. In China, the R&D centers of the automobile are located in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Take Shanghai Design Center as an example, it is mainly responsible for the styling design of Dongfeng Motor; overseas, the R&D center in Yokohama, Japan mainly researches and develops the internal combustion engine system of the vehicle; and the chassis center in Gothenburg, Sweden mainly focuses on the handling and tuning of the vehicle. Dongfeng Motor’s entire R&D system covers a wide range of aspects such as vehicle styling, powertrain and intelligent networking. It is known that Dongfeng automotive invests billions of dollars annually in vehicle technology innovation, and its own number of patents ranks among the top in the industry.
The core technologies of Dongfeng Motor’s fuel models include the following:
Currently, Dongfeng Motor’s fuel models on sale include: Fengshen Yixuan series (DONGFENG YIXUAN, DONGFENG SHINE), Fengxing T5 EVO (DONGFENG MAGE), DONGFENG FENGON 580 (DONGFENG 580), Dongfeng Citroën Versailles C5 X, SOKON K07S, SOKON D72 PLUS, SOKON C31, and so on.
Dongfeng Yixuan MAX Fuel Edition is a sporty coupe, the front face of the vehicle adopts a diamond cut design, with smoked black treatment, showing a full sense of sport. The matrix LED light source can support the free switching of long and short lights, and the irradiation distance can reach 350 meters. The front part adopts the design of deflector, which can reduce the wind resistance of the vehicle to 0.27 Cd. The side of the vehicle is suspended design, with hidden door handles, making the vehicle both sporty and technological sense. The taillights use a built-in 128 LED light source that supports dynamic running water steering effect. Inside the vehicle is a dual large-screen layout, with 12.3-inch full LCD gauges and a 10.25-inch suspended center console, a pairing that greatly frees up space in the car’s center console. Dongfeng Yixuan MAX adopts track style seat design, one-piece sporty shape makes the side support ability of the seat greatly enhanced, and the main driver also supports 6-direction electric adjustment function. The vehicle’s trunk volume of 520L, support the rear row of equal proportion to put down, fully meet the daily storage needs. The Dongfeng Yixuan MAX is equipped with a 1.5T Mach generator that can reach a maximum power of 145kW, paired with a 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission that allows the vehicle to shift gears in less than 200ms, and it also supports a variety of driving modes such as Sport+/Eco. It has a zero 100 kilometer acceleration time of 7.5 seconds and a braking distance of 35.6 meters for 100 kilometers. Dongfeng Yixuan MAX is equipped with L2 level intelligent driving assistance, which can realize the functions of LKA lane keeping assistance and AEB automatic emergency braking, etc. It also supports the car networking function, which supports the user’s Huawei HiCar, Apple CarPlay, and other full-series configurations.
After 55 years of development, Dong feng Motor has won a number of honors in the entire automotive industry. In the J.D. Power China New Car Quality Study (IQS) ranking, it is in the top three of the independent brands; Dongfeng’s Yixuan MAX model won the German Red Dot Design Award; and the vehicle’s research technology won the first prize of the China Automotive Industry Science and Technology Award.
Carrying a deep historical heritage, Dong feng Fuel Vehicle has always adhered to the original intention of “manufacturing high-quality automobiles”, and continues to provide consumers with better mobility solutions by virtue of its excellent technology and reliable quality, writing a new chapter of fuel vehicles in China.